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AttractivestDuckwing t1_j5eo6ch wrote

Would love to know what year this was from.

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ranger51 t1_j5fc1yd wrote

Yeah with inflation you can’t buy a front seat strap for tots for anywhere near $1.88 today

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dinoroo t1_j5gwi4a wrote

I paid $15 bucks for mine but so convenient. Once my toddler opened the door while we were driving but I was able to yank him right back in by the strap. A real lifesaver cause my wife would have killed me if we lost him!

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eladarling t1_j5fcglg wrote

My grandmother told us about how when she was a baby (30s?) she rode in one of these across the country with her family.

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SkylarAV t1_j5eujez wrote

Fuck I can't imagine coming across car wrecks with babies splattered across the inside

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GetInZeWagen t1_j5evkc0 wrote

I kind of wonder if it's better than any alternative in the time period. Cars had no crumple zones, no air bags, all metal dashboards, lap belts only at best, and thin pillars and door panels. Maybe suspended in the center of the car was the safest place for a baby lol

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theneedfull t1_j5fagk2 wrote

I don't know if I've wrapped my head around the physics of it, but I'm pretty sure that a sudden crash would just swing the baby up into the roof of the car with the same force of the impact. The hammock doesn't really take anything significant off that momentum, it just changes the direction. And I would think the roof of those old cars would be a lot more solid and unforgiving than the back of the seat.

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zonggestsu t1_j5fdn3a wrote

I don't necessarily think the baby would go to the roof, but instead would go 90° from it's resting point to it's direction of movement, which would be that of the vehicle's before it comes to a sudden stop. Of course this also depends on how high the axis of rotation is, where the hammock tied. Another worry would be if the baby would hit the seats in a crash or can the ropes withstand the sudden strain caused by the crash.

Edit: changing wording to explain thought better

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AlJameson64 t1_j5fl1sn wrote

In the simplest physics of a a front-end collision with an immovable object, the baby would go from resting point to 90 degrees at the speed the car was travelling; that's true. However, now the baby has angular momentum equal to that speed, and nothing would stop it rotating at the 90-degree point. If there's enough distance from the anchor points to the roof, it would spin all the way around, repeatedly until air resistance and friction slowed it to a stop. If not? Yeah, it would stop at the roof of the car.

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dasookwat t1_j5g3laq wrote

this would imply a theoretical instant stop situation, where the car it self
and whatever it hits, would not deform. If there's any crumpling of things going on, the car would not stop in an instance, and instead slow down really fast. this compensates for moving over the 90" point depending on how much time it takes for the baby to reach the 90" angle, vs the time it takes the car to stop.

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dasookwat t1_j5g300m wrote

my guess would be, the baby would be the safest person in a frontal impact car crash because the hammock is somewhat stretchy. a frontal impact would move the hammock forward, and stay there long enough to stop going to the roof. but the baby has no real impact injury because there is no travel distance for the baby. Unless ofcourse the hammock is not strong enough. Then there will be a baby sized projectile going through the front window.

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[deleted] t1_j5gotlg wrote

[deleted]

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theneedfull t1_j5gpqes wrote

Think of a punching bag. And you push it crazy hard. Yes, it starts by going forward, but then it swings up. That's what happens here.

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fourfourzero t1_j5g0cdt wrote

literally zero people used seatbelts until they were made mandatory in 1985.

−2

mel_cache t1_j5hlrje wrote

Not true. BF and I started very deliberately after a drunk driver literally tore off the front of his car in a Tbone, leaving his toes in mid-air. If he hadn’t been wearing his he would have died, he just happened to put it on that time. This was in early 1973.

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Singaya t1_j5ghhro wrote

My brother and I used to ride in the upper sleeping area of the camper, above the cab of the truck, "Cliff Burton-style" and we didn't complain. Kids today.

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negativeyoda t1_j5kedvn wrote

My family used them as did friends and everyone I ever rode in cars with. That law happened when I was approaching junior high and I was confused because it never occurred to me there might be holdouts

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ErikaFoxelot t1_j5fkstk wrote

Jesus. Imagine being the poor 10 year old who’s mommy still ties him into the car on the ride to school.

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quirkyhermit t1_j5etqpb wrote

Elders: respect us, because we are wiser than you

Also elders: let's put this baby in a sling for maximum momentum

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GetInZeWagen t1_j5evedt wrote

Also also elders: well those of us who survived are here to talk about it so it was fine!!

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ilesliec t1_j5etjns wrote

Ahhh… the infamous ’sling-shot’ bed!!

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bknhs t1_j5f1278 wrote

We had a station wagon with a rear facing flip up seat in the back of the cargo area. I used to love sitting back there looking at all the drivers behind us. God save us if we were ever rear ended though.

Although the safety features weren’t like todays, the earliest cars I remember didn’t even have seatbelts, but there was also much less cars on the road back then. The serious accidents were still horrific and the chances of survival were nil. Growing up I had a family friend who was a paramedic and when I was old enough I heard some of the stories of the crashes he had been to and those images are still seared into my memory 30+ years later.

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tom8osauce t1_j5g32jz wrote

I also grew up riding in he rear facing station wagon seat. I alway say it’s why I’ve never suffered from motion sickness.

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SirLoopy007 t1_j5he6yk wrote

Funny, cause my wife blames riding in these backwards for her motion sickness.

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hugeuvula t1_j5evp10 wrote

$1.88 would have kept me from slamming my face into the dashboard when I was 2 or 3. Mom said I left teeth marks in it.

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Jarmake t1_j5exhva wrote

I remember when I was a kid and my relatives had cars with no seatbelts or no seatbelts on the back seats. And I think they were legal at the time. It wasn't long before the law required seatbelts on cars.

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BigHobbit t1_j5f2f4b wrote

My mom had a picture of me as a baby in my first car seat back in 75 that was just a foldable lawn chair seat with a bare metal cross bar.

Safety hadn't been invented yet.

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typesett t1_j5h9tnp wrote

life was different back then

hell it was different in the 80s

im still confused if i need to use the seat belt for the back seat or not

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ladyparanoia t1_j5f4b03 wrote

$1.88 is about around $8 today… good deal

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To_enrich_my_life_17 t1_j5eoxe0 wrote

It seems seatbelts didn't exist back then

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Fynn_the_Finger t1_j5eqlnu wrote

My dad collects antique cars, he has to add after market seatbelts to a lot of them.

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[deleted] t1_j5esy33 wrote

Had a friend with a mostly accurate restoration '68 1/2 fastback Mustang, and just about everyone begged him to put shoulder belts and headrests in it. It was popularly called the Whiplash Machine. He didn't drive crazy, either, but it was a fairly abrupt car.

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sir-alpaca t1_j5f0tt8 wrote

My dad had a '59 vw bus, without seatbelts. He told me it was illegal to put seatbelts in, because there were no hardpoints on the seats. I don't know how true that was. Se non e vero, e ben trovato

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sixoklok t1_j5g9lgo wrote

Not true. It's a twisted way of saying even if he had installed them, it still wouldn't meet safety codes.

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Gdiacrane t1_j5es14o wrote

In the 00's we had a 1985 toyota starlet without seatbelts in the back seat. By dutch law the car was old enough for it not to be a requirement. We drove all the way to spain and back without getting stopped too.

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shiftdnb t1_j5eubv8 wrote

They basically didn’t. I remember in the late 70s staying up in the back seat like that one picture but with no strap. I used to lean on the back with my arms up in the top of the seats just lounging.

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JackZodiac2008 t1_j5exmnr wrote

The bottom one looks pretty decent if the speed limit is 25. And you get to leash walk your 10 year old. Win win

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samstown23 t1_j5fn20z wrote

You joke but this was a real concern back then. Lots of deaths and serious injuries from getting thrown around in the car in otherwise survivable lower speed impacts.

My parents were rather particular about me wearing a seatbelt, even though that wasn't necessarily the norm at the time. Of course 3yo me wasn't too happy about it but that changed after my dad hit the brakes once and I hit the backrest of the front seat. I actually think he did it deliberately to teach me a lesson and it likely wasn't half as bad as I remember it but that was a time when cars didn't necessarily have seatbelts and people came up with the most ludicrous excuses not to wear them if they did.

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Kafeen t1_j5g8osx wrote

You've got to wonder what car beds were available before the hammock that made that the safest ever.

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Skip1six t1_j5g0zbc wrote

It’s amazing that boomers survived isn’t it, but we did. Muahahahhaha

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SirThatsCuba t1_j5g84oc wrote

I want that hammock for my desk. Put my feet up underneath. Someone call the hammock district

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Alematrix3r t1_j5ge4ic wrote

Interestingly enough, the hammock does make a little sense, as in the event of a crash the forward momentum would be converted into rotational momentum (considering that its a forward crash and not a side crash, and that the material can handle the forces) there was actually a prototype made long time ago for babies that was like a capsule that would close and spin, the baby would have been dizzy but safe, no idea what happened to that prototype. The string though its absurd as it would be a whiplash for the poor kid

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AllyBeth t1_j5hpqer wrote

I vaguely remember on the show ‘American Inventor’ there was a guy who made what was basically a gyro bowl car seat.

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ChaosTV44 t1_j5gn9m0 wrote

Let's say ,not that I would do that, the car runs in a wall wit full speed what would happen just Teoreticly

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Creative-Pumpkin9156 t1_j5gzvit wrote

Imagine going off the road and you're in a hammock in the back...

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WH0SAYSTHISSHIT t1_j5j42zb wrote

I just use ratchet straps. That way you can control how far baby can fly through the windshield.

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rtodd23 t1_j5hhiuz wrote

Ten year olds, Dude

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wookiee_borg t1_j5i2h1t wrote

My first car seat was the plastic booster I sat in at dinner. And I definitely rode sitting on the floor of a station wagon more than once - three up front, four in the back seat, two on the floor, and two more in the hatch with the swimming gear.

0